Vivus Downgraded Earlier by Lazard on News of Poorly Performing Treatment

Vivus VVUS is currently up nearly 2 percent despite being downgraded from Buy to Neutral at Lazard Capital Markets. Traders in Vivus are continuing to responding to news from Monday the company's CEO said the company is in discussions with larger pharma companies. Analyst Joshua Schimmer cited Vivus's obesity treatment drug Qsymia as the culprit, saying demand for the product has failed to meet estimates. While Vivus is in partnering talks with other pharmaceuticals, it needs to find commercial success for the product or significantly reduce costs in order to slow the current cash outflow, according to Schimmer. VVUS is trading at 13.76 at last check.